


the intervals between here and now

by warsfeil



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 12:35:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9272078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warsfeil/pseuds/warsfeil
Summary: post-game fic.It lasts until Noctis leans in to kiss the salt water off her lips, and then all three of them go cascading backwards into the sand, and Luna laughs against his lips.





	

The afterlife isn't so bad, once you get used to it.

Time doesn't have a whole lot of meaning here, Noctis notices. It's daylight for days on end, the sun shining bright heat down onto his skin, reflecting off the strands of Lunafreya's hair. She sits on the back of the car, feet resting in on the seat she should be sitting in, but there's no one here to chastise her (even if Ravus glances at her in the rear view mirror, eyebrow raised). There's no reason to chastise her, either: they're already dead, what harm can it do?

Nyx has been here the longest, so he gets front seat privileges. After the first time Noctis gets distracted by the sound of Lunafreya's laughter, he's banned from driving -- just because they're in the afterlife doesn't mean he can't still wreck the Regalia, probably. It suits Noctis better, anyway, sitting in the back seat with his hand looped through Luna's, with her thumb rubbing gentle circles over his hand, tracing across all the callouses that he has because he remembers them. 

That's how things work here, Nyx assures them with a laugh that says he doesn't really understand shit about what's happening, either. Crowe threw her water in his face when he asked her too many questions, and then he was off on a road trip to nowhere in particular because the Regalia had an empty seat and, well, when the Oracle vouches for you, you don't turn down the chance of a lifetime just because it comes a little late. 

It's night when they decide it's night. There's no daemons, so there's no reason to pull over -- they drive along the road until it turns to gravel, and when they don't want to strain the Regalia anymore ("She's been through enough," Noctis says, patting the hood), they walk. Luna carries her shoes in loosely in one hand when they get to the sandy expanse of the beach. The evening breeze is warm because they want it to be, and they shed their clothing as they walk: Nyx cracks first and loses his jacket, then Ravus, then Noctis. Luna just has her dress, she places her shoes down when the rest of them do, a spot of white in a circle of military-issue black boots. 

The fishing is best at night, out here, and Noctis wraps his arms around Luna to show her the best way to hold the pole, when to reel in and when to relax the tension. She's terrible at it the entire time they work, but she laughs about it all the same, trying over and over again as many times as Noctis will let her just to feel the weight of his hands on hers. They don't give up until a fish yanks the whole pole straight out of her hands, disappearing into the water with a plop, and she's overbalanced enough that she goes cascading down into the water after it. Noctis goes after her, and Nyx goes after _him_ , and when the three of them make it back up onto the beach, dripping water and covered in sand, Ravus is the only one still dry, looking at them with his lips twisted as he tries not to laugh.

He doesn't manage it. He tries for all of fifteen seconds, or thereabouts, before he loses it: even he can't hold out against the sound of Noctis gasping for air, of Nyx helplessly cursing, of Luna giggling so hard that she can't even raise a hand to her mouth to try to be polite. He calls them all idiots, and goes to get towels from the camper that's nearby. 

_You have sand in your hair, come here_ , Nyx tells Luna, reaching up with easy familiarity to undo the braid in her hair that's already falling out with the weight of the water. She lets him, leans into it, leans too far backward until the only thing holding her upright is the grip Noctis has on both of her hands. Like a trust fall: they'll both catch her no matter which way she goes.

It lasts until Noctis leans in to kiss the salt water off her lips, and then all three of them go cascading backwards into the sand, and Luna laughs against his lips. Her dress is see-through in the moonlight, from the water; she'd be a dreamlike silhouette, if they weren't already in a dream. 

Ravus doesn't come back because they don't want him to; Nyx is untying the lace of Luna's dress and Noctis is pushing her skirt up to press kisses up her thigh, and time stretches on for them, minutes and hours, because that's what they need. They need the sound of the water lapping at the shoreline, of hearing the sound of fabric falling away to be replaced by skin, and it lasts for a small eternity, just for them. The water barely dries on their skin and their clothes are still damp when they put them back on, and then Ravus' time catches up to let him reappear with towels. Two are immediately thrown at the other men, no holds barred, and the third is given, graciously, to Luna, who accepts with all the dignity of a queen, even if her hair is a tangled mess and the sand is glimmering like stars spread across her shoulders.

They go to sleep in the camper; Nyx bunks with a deeply exasperated Ravus, but Noctis and Luna are married, so of course they get to have a room to themselves. When they wake up, it's morning in the castle; they all go down to breakfast, sleepily and in their pajamas, and Nyx has to head back halfway because he realizes that you can't have breakfast with royalty when your nightclothes consists entirely of a pair of boxers you won from the 114th King of Lucis in a game of strip poker. By the time he gets down there, everyone is already eating, and while it's a little weird to have Regis (who looks like he's barely older than 30, now) pass him a cup of coffee, the familiarity of Noctis picking all the peppers out of his omelette puts him at ease.

The morning sunlight streams in through the windows, and the room is smaller than it should be, more intimate. The castle never had a room like this for royalty, but it does now, they can see a view of Insomnia from the windows. Clarus is discussing going out to Hammerhead, and Regis decides they'll head out in the Regalia, this time. Noctis protests around a mouthful of egg, now that it's safe from vegetables, and Aulea tugs on a lock of his hair as chastisement. 

"I'll only be gone for a couple of hours," Regis says, and everyone knows that it's true: however long he's gone, it'll always only be a few hours. He'll return exactly when they need him, car pulling back up the second before anyone can start to miss him. 

Noctis spends the day teaching Luna to warp -- Ravus refuses to try after the first time, when he winds up overshooting his mark and landing in the koi pond -- and when night comes again, the four of them travel up to the roof to look at the stars, the city lights muted and dim in the background. There's a lifetime of people down there (an afterlifetime of people, maybe), and everyone can see exactly what they need to, exactly what they want to.

The four of them look at the stars and wait. It should only be a few more days that stretch out however long they want them to until everyone else arrives, and they have a lot to catch up on.


End file.
